Bouncebackability Test Comes Now

Those looking at the possibilities of investing in property in UK will be concerned with many issues. One will be the economy as a whole, with some doom-mongers still predicting that Britain will catch America's cold and plunge into recession. Others may take a more subtle view, that a major economic downturn will be avoided but there will be a slump in the property market. Yet for those with an optimistic view of the future, a number of green shoots may be appearing. Firstly, some new surveys has shown slight rises in UK house prices. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has revealed a small increase in house prices of 0.4 per cent in England and Wales, while the Financial Times index for January has shown a 0.1 per cent rise in the same parts of the UK. While these figures may exclude Northern Ireland, where prices have fallen, they also exclude Scotland, which the Halifax recently revealed to be the best-performing region for property price appreciation in the last quarter of 2007. Responding to the DCLG figures, Ed Stansfield, a property economist with Capital Economics, told PA News that he believed the recent base rate cut would not have much impact on the sector and that the figures had shown an overall slowdown in the house price inflation rate, noting the annual figure was down to 9.1 per cent in December compared with 9.7 per cent in November. Yet a very different view has been expressed by Ross Bowen, managing director of Connells Survey and Valuation. The estate agency's own figures had revealed a rise in mortgage approvals in January, up to 75,300 from December's 73,000. Were one to view this figure in isolation, it would look poor, with Connells noting this was 38 per cent down on last year and the lowest total in the first month of the year since the agency started the survey in 1994. However, the context which saw the number of approvals rising might suggest better times on the way, said Mr Bowen. While he acknowledged this was just one month's figures, Mr Bowen noted that agents in the firm has seen "a rise in housing stock coming onto the market and renewed interest from househunters". Moreover, in contrast with Mr Stansfield, he suggested the latest base rate rise could indeed provide a property market boost, just as long as lenders passed on the cut to their variable rate mortgages holders. So far several major lenders - such as Abbey, First Direct, Alliance & Leicester and the Co-Operative Bank - have announced they are doing so. Even among those who have recorded a fall in house prices there is optimism. One example is that of Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). Commenting on figures complied by his organisation for the Chesterton Poll of Polls for January - which overall revealed that the average house price survey last month recorded a 0.3 per cent reduction in prices - Mr McWilliams suggested that the situation indicated a correction, not a crash, adding that this meant the present time was an ideal one for investors. He said: "I think these figures show that now is the perfect time to buy. There is a wide range of properties on the market and some bargains to be had." Thus while there are many pessimists about and there may well be for some time yet, there are still plenty of experts on the property industry who suspect now could be a fine time to invest as the market starts to recover, with prices beginning to go up, mortgages numbers on the upturn and interest rates coming down. The property market may be about to reveal its bouncebackability. In today's world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially investment in UK